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Questions About American Football? Ask Here!

As we have plenty of members here whose only experiences with American football may be limited to only the Eyeshield 21 manga, this is where you can come if you desire more knowledge about the sport.

Venom65437 and I, as quite avid football fans, will be happy to educate anybody who asks their questions nicely. I played as a middle linebacker for a state championship high school football team way back in the day, and keep up with the NFL like there's no tomorrow. It's my favorite sport. Venom's been watching football even longer than me, though, and as a diehard Miami Dolphins fan, he's even gone to NFL games personally.

There may be other members here who are quite knowledgable in the sport happy to answer your questions.

So, if you have any inquiries about any rules, any positions, any play calls, any systems, any players, any teams, whatever comes to mind, fire away.

Important: Rules are slightly different between the NFL (Professional Football) and NCAA (Collegiate Football). We'll go over the differences if we have to, just don't be confused by it.

Re: Questions About American Football? Ask Here!

Four, I believe... one behind the quarterback to protect him (as well as watching for any illegal movements or formations), one right behind the middle linebacker (I ran into him quite a few times too), one way back that one to watch for passing plays and any interferences, and one on the sidelines watching to see where the ball should be on the next play.

EDIT: Okay, my memory's faulty, there's more. Seven to be precise. "Referee, Head Linesman, Line Judge, Umpire, Back Judge, Side Judge, and Field Judge. "

Re: Questions About American Football? Ask Here!

That gave me another question (geez, stop already, man!)
If the ball fumbled and picked up by the opponent, can they make a forward or lateral pass? And if they're downed, do they get a first down or what? And... i cant think of anything else right now

Re: Questions About American Football? Ask Here!

Originally Posted by ichimaru_gin_n_tonic

That gave me another question (geez, stop already, man!)
If the ball fumbled and picked up by the opponent, can they make a forward or lateral pass? And if they're downed, do they get a first down or what? And... i cant think of anything else right now

The one who picks up a fumble can only do a lateral pass or run ahead with the ball himself for the play to continue. If he tries to do a forward pass, it's a penalty.

If they're downed, I assume you mean if they're stopped? Their offense comes on and yeah, it's a first down.

Originally Posted by Xophien

Actually I had questions too, a bit ES21-related :

When do you get a penalty for pass interference ? I mean, Kamaguruma's bumps in the Taiyou match, weren't they a bit too much ?

Bumps are allowed as long as it's done only five yards beyond the line of scrimmage. After that it becomes illegal and the defensive backs can't touch the receivers until they catch the ball - though crafty ones will get away with slight nudges.

Kamaguruma's bumps would have been legal, yeah. The reason it's allowed is because sometimes the receiver will actually try to block them instead of run their routes. The defensive backs have to defend themselves, too. Big receivers are actually more than often stronger than the usually smaller defensive backs. Kamaguruma was a freak.

Quote:

Is the benchpress record of a player used in their stats ? And if yes, is 200kg (440lbs) an uncommon record ?

Well, my max. bench press was 300lbs in high school, 440lbs would be something most collegiate and pro linemen should be able to do, but for most other players on the team it would be extraordinary.

And no, it's not really mentioned too much what a player's bench press is in college or pro football, once at these levels they're all usually pretty strong. Though it's usually something the recruiting/scouting departments looks at. It's usually in high school that a player's statistics are more noteworthy to fans.

Re: Questions About American Football? Ask Here!

Do I sound retarded when I say that I live in Europe and don't know anything about American Soccer other than that fat and big people will jump on you if you play? The only thing I know is rugby where you grab the ball and ruuuuuuuun~ and are not allowed to pass it forward plus that you have put down on a line to score a goal

Re: Questions About American Football? Ask Here!

Originally Posted by ibra87

Do I sound retarded when I say that I live in Europe and don't know anything about American Soccer other than that fat and big people will jump on you if you play? The only thing I know is rugby where you grab the ball and ruuuuuuuun~ and are not allowed to pass it forward plus that you have put down on a line to score a goal

I played rugby too, and let me tell you right now, it's pretty different from American football.

In rugby you can only toss the football backwards at ALL times. And the action is nonstoppable, no pauses except for halftime. In football there's more strategy for every play involved because you're allowed a few seconds to decide what your next play by consulting with your coaches before the next play (more if you have a first down in collegiate football, because they stop the clock. They don't in pro football). Rugby is like a game of checkers where American football is like a game of chess.

Oh and by the way, the tacklers who jump on you aren't all that fat. They're in the best shape of their lives ever usually, and it can hurt. Though there can be some pretty big-boned players out there XD

And don't worry, I know most people here haven't been exposed to watching American football at all, so your questions are understandable.

Re: Questions About American Football? Ask Here!

And here I saw there was 11 responses to this thread and I'd get a chance to answer some questions. Oh well.

I WIN!!! *Dances around Josh and then spikes the ball in front of him*

Originally Posted by Luckas

That seems a little scary. What do you mean with "to protect the quarterback"?

If a defensive player hits the quarterback late, after the quarterback has already thrown the ball, it's considered a 15-yard penalty ("roughing the passer"). In the NFL they are really cracking on these type of blatant hits. Though sometimes I think they're helping the quarterbacks too much. Sometimes the defensive player can't stop himself but they still throw the flag sometimes even if it's only a second before the hit that the quarterback lets go of the ball.

But there are a lot of quarterbacks hurt in pro football/college football and that can usually ruin a team's chances of having a winning season. So the NFL in particular, who loses a lot of money if their star players are injured - and the star players are more often than not quarterbacks - tells their officials "when in doubt, throw the flag" every time.

There's also a new rule that was installed just last year where a defensive lineman cannot go for the quarterback's legs anymore in tackling him. That's usually where the majority of injuries come from - quarterback suffering ACL tears from these type of hits. Carson Palmer, the quarterback of the Cincinnati Bengals, got knocked out of the first round playoff game against the Steelers last year due to such an injury. The crazy thing about that was he had also thrown a 80-yard touchdown pass on the same play, and that was his final play of the game. Steelers went on to win. Sad huh?

The defensive player also cannot hit the quarterback in the head, either.

Defensive players lately like Dwight Freeney, who used to be a beast for the Indianapolis Colts, are complaining this year that having to worry about how they hit the quarterback - making the perfect tackle every time for a sack - was taking a lot of their playing abilities away.